


Spare Parts

by poppyanemone



Category: Fate/Zero, ロード・エルメロイⅡ世の事件簿 - 三田誠 | Lord El-Melloi II Case Files - Sanda Makoto
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Sci-Fi AU, Science Fiction, Slow Burn, yes android!waver has a dick you don't have to ask you're welcome ❤︎
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 15:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18876286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppyanemone/pseuds/poppyanemone
Summary: A once great Captain saw his worth when no one else did. Waver wanted to be part of his crew more than anything else. With a red scarf around his neck, he felt his world turn from dull gray to crimson, warmth and comfort he believed was only read in books.





	Spare Parts

**DATA LOG** : OCT. 3RD, 2xxx  
**ENTRY NAME** : kayarch1

**BEGINNING OF ENTRY**

It seems the first of the Velvet line has been completed. Every detail has been taken into consideration and tested for approval. There are complications that have yet to be fully eradicated due to limited time and expenses. Time is of the essence. In order to overcome competitors, we have to play it safe by acting with precise movements. El-Melloi Corporation might have recently partnered with Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, but the heiress of the name seems to be working on her own android concept. Dia-R, Diamond Rose Android line. We've taken into consideration that such a line would have rivaled the Velvet line if successful. We cannot take those chances. This partnership is good for both the company and myself. Sola-Ui is talented and knowledgeable in android mechanics. It could be detrimental if that were allowed to be left to be squandered on a dying company.

**END OF ENTRY**

* * *

"How do you feel?"

An odd question to ask an android. Waver stared back to his Creator, eyes seemingly confused and hesitant to answer. He knew he had to be careful on what to say, what to do. His Creator was a man running on a deadline half of the time, meaning his own inevitable ending would soon come to pass. It had been explained to him time and time again. The end result would be that Waver would be taken to conferences to display what his features were, give seminars and perform on the basis of questions asked by the audience. It was the standard wash, rinse, and repeat of being the first in release of an android line. However, the Velvet line was meant to be unique. Each android was custom. Never would one look the same as the next. Customers could design theirs however they wanted based upon personal preference. Personality, on the other hand, was something that developed rather than being a downloadable feature. It occurred with time and changed over the years. Waver could recall Sola-Ui making a remark about it mirroring a severely outdated concept by Furby designers. Mentioned something about might as well give customers the option to buy personality traits for an extra fee. From his observation, he concluded that the comparison of his design to a Furby had wounded his Creator's pride.

"Processors seem to be intact. Memory capacity at 8% full. 92% remaining. Data analysis up to date." Everything was fully functioning. Almost. Hesitating again, Waver stared straight ahead and avoided making eye contact with Kayneth. "My arm. I cannot register that it is there," he stated, posture going a bit too rigid and stoic for an android of his high intelligence and superior design. "It's broken." _Again._

From the corner of his gaze, he could glimpse blue cloak moving in a sharp manner, frustration building in every step his Creator took. Anger. While he was not built to feel emotion, he could emulate them as he was told. He could understand them on sight, define body language and facial movements. It was part of his programming to make him appear as life-like as possible, a feature that seemed most profitable amongst the major population. 

As his Creator approached, Waver was tempted to lean away from him. He knew what was going to happen. It was a repetitive occurrence with how often his arm malfunctioned or, a worse case scenario, fell off completely. The first time was taken as his Creator's fault. Reassured that it was only minor damage and could be repaired within time except it wasn't. The second time had been blamed for another malfunction. The fault was thrown at him for the third.

"Were you being reckless again? You are complete, Waver, but your circuits are faulty. How am I supposed to display you without you malfunctioning over the slightest matter?" A thrumming in his chest, gears whirring and circuits firing, Waver held a composure expected of him as he listened to Kayneth fire off another one of his spiels about the errors in his physical components. Everything else about him: Memory capacity, data analysis, processing, coordinating, knowledge restoration, and ability to gather information was up to date. All of it. His internal mechanics were fully functioning and rivaled even the android Sola-Ui had produced in the same amount of time as Kayneth, yet his physical parts failed where Dia-R excelled. In a way, Waver wished his Creator had been her than what reality had granted him.

Brows knitting together, the android held back the desire to glare in his Creator's direction, despising how responsibility was forced upon him for something Kayneth should have done. Wasn't it his Creator's fault if he didn't function properly? How would his malfunction be for him to blame if he wasn't even permitted to do maintenance on himself? He knew where he lacked, where his internal faults needed attention. One of his features was designed to understand other mechanisms and see their potential and necessary repairs. It should work the same on himself, but that was not allowed. His assumption was that ego outweighed the desired outcome, that Kayneth wanted to hold all glory than share in the light of it all. All Waver had to do was exist; the Creator did the rest.

"No. I wasn't. Merely, I was in the library," was said, dark hair curtaining his face while his Creator pulled down the sleeve of his form fitting bodysuit, exposing the gap between where shoulder and arm were supposed to meet except they didn't. Held together by wires, it hung loosely and barely there. A sharp pull would have easily ripped it away from his body. Remaining perfectly still, Waver kept silent while Kayneth prodded and inspected between wires. It wasn't painful. Uncomfortable at most as he preferred his inner components to not be seen. "Dia-R was there. They would not have done — " Before another word could leave him, a searing pain shot from shoulder and down his spine, circuits firing warning to the missing limb.

_It hurts._

This was pain. Sharp and hot and overwhelming. Waver had read about it in those books he had grown to love, those obscenely outdated things that Kayneth collected for status than necessity. No one used them anymore when technology had overtaken everything else and a download was cheaper than vying for a paperback. Moments as these, it made him wonder if he would inevitably be obsolete like them. "Sensors indicate detached part. Maintenance required," he forced out the prompted error message, yet he had other choice words he wanted to say. If permitted, he would have lashed out and fired a retort calling him on his Creator's mistakes. That it was his negligence that made his body less than what it should be. That his circuits were not his own failures, but the one that had made him. His lone hand gripped at the chrome bench beneath him, careful to not warp its initial state; there was only one thing allowed to be broken in the room.

"I don't want to hear about where Sola-Ui allows her android to roam on their own. You know that her design is not going to become anything. There is no need to associate yourself with them when they'll be recycled for spare parts once we move forward with yours." Something within Kayneth's words said more than what was shown on the surface. An envious nature that Waver detected, written into his memory and interpreted as something other than envy and fear of the competitor. They had already partnered with the El-Melloi corporation. There really was no need.

But that wasn't the point. His Creator was a man with a heavy ego and a heavier weight upon his shoulders, and by default, he had to live up to the expectations of the masses. El-Melloi Corporation was leading alongside Aozaki with their own technology and android specialization. One error in the El-Melloi launch of their Velvet line release could make or break in their business, pushing Aozaki to the top and falling them into second. If Waver had learned anything, Kayneth did not want to be in second place to anyone if it could be helped. All the more reason they had partnered with Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri; absorb the competition and there will be none. However, Kayneth, as much as he was confidence and prodigy, was his own worst enemy. 

Within both hands, he held Waver's left arm and looked over the length of it. Frayed wires hanging from the end of it aside, anyone would have quickly assumed it to be human upon first glance. Skin was soft to the touch, living up to the trademark slogan for the line — _"With skin as smooth as velvet."_ It was cheesy as it was a cliched comparison, but it was not Waver's place to say. He wasn't part of the marketing team nor in a position to voice an opinion about his own design. Other A.I. were in charge of that and calculating what would be most profitable and memorable for the consumer. A quick data analysis of former slogans would have revealed that it was on the repetitive side. He supposed, in a sense, it could be worse. His design name could have been "FLAT" and marketed as a storage unit. Fortunate that idea had been scrapped.

"Are you certain that your design will be favored?" It was the most Waver could ask without revealing too much about his doubts. Being straightforward wouldn't have earned him an answer, and phrasing himself with words that might have shown his animosity toward his own Creator for ripping off his arm wouldn't have given him anything at all. He had to play his cards carefully, searching the possibilities and playing them again to conclude the correct result and assumption. Honestly, he might have been better suited for aiding detective work than serving as a companion android, but that was not within his programming. Only a nod to the slight of his fondness for the novels found in the abundance of Kayneth's ever growing library. "Dia-R was installed with charisma and kindness personality traits if I gathered correctly from my analysis. Lady Sola-Ui must have gone forward with personality attributes being downloadable features and custom assets than what you have done. It's marketable, yes, but yours, personality something to be developed over time, is more unique."

And equally faulty. His circuits could not properly handle all of the data, could not easily cope with being ever changing and support everything his components were intended to do. Overheating and short circuiting was more common than he mentioned to his Creator for fear of being torn apart and inspected time and time again. It was difficult enough that his arm wouldn't stay attached. More straining that Kayneth kept ripping it by the wires out of frustration.

"Of course, you would see it as that. Unique, hm. I did not intend to make you 'unique', but that your design would fulfill anything the consumer would want in a companion android and replace our last model. Data searching, ability to do any household chore depending upon request, companionship components. You are designed to grow internally based upon whoever it is that purchases you. It is ideal for someone that does not have the time or social skills to be long lasting relationships. I have suspicion you might be used for child rearing, so I have installed a feature for you to fill a role in the household as a babysitter," Kayneth explained, laying out Waver's arm upon a workbench opposite him. From his perched seat, he could easily watch Creator smooth over the surface skin and see panels open to reveal the inner workings. The sight felt almost a violation of his privacy. An odd thought for an android to have when Kayneth knew every nook and cranny, every wire and gear within his body to the last detail. It made him feel as if there was nowhere for him to hide.

"It was why my niece has been frequenting the estate more often to test your capability with children. Reines isn't of age to work for the company, but she will be inheriting the El-Melloi Corporation after I have passed on." Strange, Waver thought. Reines being be the one to take over when Sola-Ui was more than capable seemed to show the lack of trust Kayneth had toward her. Or perhaps it had been only after Dia-R that his true colors began to show. An ugly sort of envy had taken hold of him whenever he saw Sola-Ui fawn over her creation, treating them as though they were human and a piece of art than machine. Not once in his short existence had Waver felt that nor had one speak to him as sweetly. In a way, he too was envious of the kindness and adoration Sola-Ui gave to them.

Reaching up, Waver slid the sleeve of his body suit back over his shoulder to hide where his arm had once been. He had grown accustomed to the loose fabric hanging at his side by now, but accustomed didn't mean he was numb to it. Each and every time his arms detached from where it should be, there was a dull ache. Manageable, but his body was in a constant state of discomfort. Even without his arm, it felt lesser because there was nothing where something should be. If Kayneth hadn't continued to tear it off, the possibilities of becoming loosening from its socket would have decreased. He might have been able to repair other pieces and fine tuned components that needed attention, but time was of the essence. The El-Melloi Corporation was facing a deadline to release their prototype of the Velvet series. Failure was no option. It was either completion or nothing at all.

Another scenario was Diamond Rose line took Velvet's place. An end result as that would take a harder hit on his Creator's pride than his company's reputation.

Sitting and observing, he could see sweat collecting upon Kayneth's brow, a pensive and anxious sort of expression distorting the man's expression. If it wasn't for his own fate, Waver might have hoped to see his Creator fail in his endeavors. Just to watch him crumble from his pedestal. That would have meant Waver's life would be cut short, Dia-R's would be extended beyond what anticipated. Ironic. Unfairly so. Overtake the competitor only to have their design become the front runner for the business? The possibility was greater with their time nearing the end. 

Placing his gloved hand over the socket of his shoulder, Waver eased off the work table and moved to stand beside his Creator. "Battery life at 12%." A lie, a blatant one. His energy level was at nearly 87%, but staying in the same room while his arm was being inspected and prodded for faulty wires and other necessary repairs wasn't the alternative to sitting in his charging station he wanted. If anything, he considered purposely powering down and going into 'sleep mode' than having to endure being worked upon for the nth time. It might have been part of his existence and the only way for his technology to further itself by going through testing and listening while other reported their findings. Documenting their thoughts, saying where he needed and improvement, and what would better benefit the consumer.

_I'm tired._

If he had been created in another image, by another's hands, would he 'feel' the same? Long dark hair, statuesque, and stoic. Was this what the masses wanted to see? Part of him wondered if his Creator had been destined to fail from the start. The El-Melloi Corporation had once been powerful and standing tall among other businesses with their design and technology, but it was a slow death in profits and being unable to keep up with newer and better ideas. Kayneth was without a doubt talented. Waver would agree. Talent was nothing without the ability to add risk and play the field of business without taking chance. Sola-Ui was his safety net; Dia-R the golden ticket to ensuring they brought something to the table whether or not.

_Am I inferior?_

The question was one that would never be asked aloud nor voiced any other way. A majority of such words were better kept for himself.

"I thought I charged you." There was a sigh of annoyance from Kayneth as he answered, gesturing a hand for Waver to leave the room for the adjacent one with the charging stations for androids and storage parts. "Remain in there until I have finished maintenance. There are wires missing that need replaced. It should be no more than an hour until I can make the proper repairs for reattachment. Do not go anywhere else. I will not be wasting time to find you if you decide to stray." Nothing needed to be said to him. Waver was more than content to leave and bide his time in a charging pod. It was as if he were sleeping. A time where he could escape elsewhere from what this reality had dealt for him.

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this idea for a year or so now. mainly inspired by chobits, but i wanted to get things out there looool. it was supposed to be only a roleplay verse on tumblr, but ended up turning it into a fanfiction since i ended up doing more world building than intended. sorry for no iskandar in this chapter. but he'll be there soon ;;;


End file.
